"You get what you pay for" is an aphorism that is particularly apt with respect to prepaid telecommunication services. Generally, such prepaid services are offered in conjunction with a debit phone or a telecommunications unit including a debit card, which collectively are referred to herein as a "debit unit". Further, debit units are typically cellular telephones or units associated with a personal communication system (PCS). Debit units with prepaid telecommunication services offer convenience to the customer and relative certainty of income to the telecommunications service provider. In particular, prepaid telecommunication services are advantageous for the customer because, once prepaid, such services are generally delivered without the need for further extensive authorization or validation procedures such as credit card authorization, entry of special personal identification numbers (PINs), etc. Further, prepaid telecommunication services are advantageous for the service provider because, inter alia, with a group of prepaid customers, the service provider establishes a customer base for the delivery of telecommunication services that may include services other than just prepaid services.
To take advantage of prepaid telecommunication services, generally, a customer subscribes to such services from a service provider by establishing an account and paying a fee into that account. The customer is issued or ascribed a debit unit, and then the customer simply uses the debit unit to place or receive communications. The costs for these communications are calculated and charged against the customer's prepaid account. Once the account is exhausted, the customer is unable to use the debit unit until the account has been replenished.
To service a debit customer with a debit cellular or PCS unit, a service provider may use a debit platform in conjunction with the mobile switching centers (mobile switches) in the service provider's geographic area of service. A debit platform typically includes a call processor and a database. Upon receipt of a communication to or from a debit unit, a mobile switch recognizes the destination station as a debit unit and provides the communication to the call processor of the debit platform. The call processor carries out authorization and validation functions (A/V Functions) in association with the database of the debit platform. If the debit unit is valid and/or authorized for the type of services associated with the communication, then the call processor places a call through the mobile switch to either the debit unit or the number dialed by the customer of the debit unit (depending on whether the communication is to or from the debit unit). If this call is unanswered, then the call processor provides predetermined default treatment. If this call is answered, then the call processor may bridge the communication received from the mobile switch with the call made by the call processor. Typically, the call processor keeps track of information with respect to the communication such as its duration so that the appropriate charges may be made against the customer's account. Once the communication is terminated, the call processor tears down the bridge. The call processor also charges the customer's account for the costs associated with the communication. This customer account information may be stored in the debit platform's database.
With the fast growth of the telecommunication service industry, and especially, with the fast growth of prepaid telecommunication services offered in connection with debit units, service providers have generally acted independently in setting up debit platforms. Thus, the functions carried out by a debit platform are typically as described in the preceding paragraph. Yet, these functions are carried out on debit platform elements that may be unique to a particular service provider. Further, these debit platform functions may be carried out on transport facilities using computer applications, languages or programs that also may be unique to a particular service provider at least with respect to debit platforms. In other words, there is no "standard" debit platform. Each service provider may have its own species of debit platform.
The diversity in debit platforms is a drawback to the expansion of prepaid telecommunication services using debit units. Because of this diversity, a service provider is able to provide telecommunication services to customers using debit units only in the geographic area of that service provider (except in very limited circumstances as described below). In other words, if a customer of a service provider takes a debit unit to a geographic area served by a different service provider, the customer is unable to use the debit unit. The inability of the customer to use the debit unit in a visited area is a drawback to the expansion of the home service provider's prepaid services. This drawback stems from the fact that the debit platform of service provider A cannot communicate with the debit platform of service provider B. As a result, a debit customer of service provider B, who is roaming in the area of service provider A, cannot use his or her debit unit in the visited area. There is no way for the debit platform in the visited area to exchange information with the debit platform in the home area. Thus, there is no way for the debit platform in the visited area to check the validity or authorization of a debit unit that is roaming in the visited area. If the debit platform in the visited area proceeds to deliver telecommunication services to the roaming debit unit, then the associated service provider risks serving a fraudulent or otherwise unauthorized unit. The debit unit may be stolen. The debit unit may not be authorized to receive communications. The service provider risks that it will not be compensated for such delivery of services. In addition, the delivery of unauthorized services is a burden on the infrastructure of the telecommunication facilities of the service provider.
To overcome these drawbacks, service providers who offer debit services have pursued a couple of principal courses of action. One system that has been used to provide debit services to roaming customers has simply avoided the drawbacks associated with the inability of debit platforms to communicate by limiting the authorization and validation process to the home debit platform. This system is referred to herein as the "toll-free number system". In this system, a customer who is roaming with a debit unit may place a call only by first dialing a toll-free telephone number. The need to dial the toll-free telephone number applies even in the case of local calls within the service area where the debit unit is roaming. Upon dialing the toll-free telephone number, the call is connected to the customer's home network. This connection may be made through a national debit platform, which may serve as a home debit platform or to a home debit platform, which is associated with the customer's home wireless network. This connection may be a long distance connection from the visited service area to the home service area. The national or home debit platform then processes this call just as if it were received in connection with a debit unit that is located in the designated home service area rather than a visited service area.
From this brief description of the toll-free number system, it is may be seen that this system does not address the drawbacks associated with the inability of diverse debit platforms to communicate. In the toll-free number system, there is no need for diverse debit platforms to communicate because only one debit platform is involved in the authorization and validation process. Rather, this toll-free number system avoids the described problems, but presents its own set of problems. These problems include the burden placed on the telecommunication facilities by the use of voice channel connections between a debit unit roaming in a visited network and the national or home debit platform in an effort to authorize or validate the roaming unit. Further, it is a burden for a customer to call a number, even a toll-free number, prior to calling the desired number associated with the customer's communication. The customer must remember or carry the toll-free number with him or her. The customer must enter the lengthy toll-free number, rather than simply dialing the desired number. This double number entry is time-consuming, inconvenient, and may even be dangerous if the customer is using the debit unit while operating a vehicle.
In sum, the toll-free system avoids the problems associated with the inability of diverse debit platforms to communicate by teaching away from these problems. The toll-free system teaches away from the problems by using only a single debit platform in serving debit customers.
To overcome the drawbacks associated with the inability of diverse debit platforms to communicate, other service providers have entered into agreements to exchange the necessary information so as to configure their respective debit platforms for communication. But these configurations necessarily must be hard-wired between the platforms, or other connections made between the platforms. For example, these other connections may include use of the voice channels of the cellular networks, PCS or the public switched telephone network. As with the toll-free number system, the use of voice channel connections to exchange authorization and validation information between disparate debit platforms places a burden on telecommunication facilities. Further, to keep their debit platforms communicating, the service providers that have entered into such agreements have to keep up with each other's changes or modifications to their respective platforms and associated information. The continuing exchange of such information between service providers in a competitive environment poses significant difficulties involving business and technological concerns.
In conclusion, the expansion of prepaid telecommunication services using debit units is hampered by the inability of diverse debit platforms to communicate in the process of authorization and validation of roaming debit units. Yet, previous efforts to overcome the drawbacks associated with this inability to communicate have been unsuccessful or fraught with problems and burdens on telecommunication facilities.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that provides for the exchange of information between service providers and between the networks of such service providers with respect to the validity or authorization of a particular debit unit operating in the area of a visited network, but associated with a customer of a different network or service provider.
There is a particular need for a system that provides for the exchange of information with respect to a specific wireless unit between the debit platforms of different service providers.
There is also a need for a system that provides for the exchange of information between the debit platforms of different service providers with respect to a specific wireless unit, but does not use the voice channels of the wireless networks or the public switched telephone network.